ANS producers: sell us our gas!(From the Publisher) (Arctic North Slope)

• Author: McCorkle, Vern C.

That's right--our gas!

The Arctic North Slope producers do not own the gas, Alaskans do. It's a fact not fully understood by Alaskans until fairly recent days. They have wanted Alaskans to think that they own the gas and for more than three decades most Alaskans thought so. Not so! Never was.

What they own is conditional permission to market the gas and to realize a fair profit doing so. The condition is that they market the gas, not warehouse it as they have all these years.

The producers are under no obligation to market our gas at a loss, and Alaskans would not want that to happen. Giving the producers their due, in past years gas markets have been down, but not so today. For the next 50 years, world energy experts, even the producers themselves in carefully drafted statements around the world not covered by the U.S. press, foresee a robust market for gas, unprecedented heretofore. That is why most are gearing up like mad to produce gas all around the world where they are in a time crunch to gain market share--except Alaska. Alaska can just wait, they say, because they think we will willingly wait. Again, not so.

No Need to Pick a Fight

It ill serves Alaska to go to war with the producers. If we cross them, they told us recently, they will slap us into court for decades. And they've got the money to do it. What have they to lose? After all, that gets them what they really want-delay.

To this day, producers have maintained that marketing Alaska's gas is economically unfeasible. They claim a much touted $100 million-plus study proves it. Oh really? That is not proven. The study is supposed to be proprietary. That is true only until their inaction adversely impacts their partners, us.

We don't know what "economically feasible" really means. Is it based on a 35 percent or 45 percent profit goal? Who knows? Would not a 25 percent profit be acceptable? Observing the annual and first-quarter financial statements of all major producers...